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California's School Finance Reform: An Experiment in Fiscal Federalism

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Author Info
Eric J. Brunner (Quinnipiac University and University of Connecticut)
Jon Sonstelie (University of California, Santa Barbara)

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Abstract

The 1971 ruling of the California Supreme Court in the case of Serrano v. Priest initiated a chain of events that abruptly ended local financing of public schools in California. In seven short years, California transformed its school finance system from a decentralized one in which local communities chose how much to spend on their schools to a centralized one in which the state legislature determines the expenditures of every school district. This paper begins by describing California's school finance system before Serrano and the transformation from local to state finance. It then delineates some consequences of that transformation and draws lessons from California's experience with school finance reform.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Connecticut, Department of Economics in its series Working papers with number 2006-09.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:uct:uconnp:2006-09

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Related research
Keywords: School Finance Reform; Centralization; Fiscal Federalism;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
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    Other versions:
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    Other versions:
  12. Oates, Wallace E, 1969. "The Effects of Property Taxes and Local Public Spending on Property Values: An Empirical Study of Tax Capitalization and the Tiebout Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 77(6), pages 957-71, Nov./Dec.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Eric A. Hanushek & Steven G. Rivkin, 1996. "Understanding the 20th Century Growth in U.S. School Spending," NBER Working Papers 5547, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Downes, Thomas A. & Schoeman, David, 1998. "School Finance Reform and Private School Enrollment: Evidence from California," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 418-443, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Patrick Bayer & Fernando Ferreira & Robert McMillan, 2007. "A Unified Framework for Measuring Preferences for Schools and Neighborhoods," NBER Working Papers 13236, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  22. Downes, Thomas A. & Dye, Richard F. & McGuire, Therese J., 1998. "Do Limits Matter? Evidence on the Effects of Tax Limitations on Student Performance," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 401-417, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  24. Husted, Thomas A & Kenny, Lawrence W, 2000. "Evidence on the Impact of State Government on Primary and Secondary Education and the Equity-Efficiency Trade-Off," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 43(1), pages 285-308, April.
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    Other versions:
  26. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano, 2000. "Neighborhood Schools, Choice, and the Distribution of Educational Benefits," NBER Working Papers 7850, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  27. Hines, James R, Jr & Thaler, Richard H, 1995. "The Flypaper Effect," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 217-26, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Eric J. Brunner & Jennifer Imazeki, 2006. "Tiebout Choice and the Voucher," Working papers 2006-10, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-20.

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